Phased Retrofits in Existing Homes in Florida Phase I: Shallow and Deep Retrofits
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Building America program, in collaboration with Florida Power & Light (FPL), is conducting a phased residential energy-efficiency retrofit program. This research seeks to establish impacts on annual energy and peak energy reductions from the technologies applied at two levels of retrofit – shallow and deep, with savings levels approaching the Building America program goals of reducing whole-house energy use by 40%. Under the Phased Deep Retrofit (PDR) project, we have installed phased, energy-efficiency retrofits in a sample of 56 existing, all-electric homes. End-use savings and economic evaluation results from the phased measure packages and single measures are summarized in this report.

Beal,
McIlvaine
8/14

Achieving Challenge Home in Affordable Housing in the Hot-Humid Climate
The Building America Partnership for Improved Residential Construction worked with two affordable housing builders, Manatee County Habitat for Humanity and Southeast Volusia County Habitat for Humanity, who pursued and achieved Challenge Home certification in the hot-humid climate in 2013. This report explains two technical approaches. One involved conventional frame construction and an innovative approach to the interior duct system requirement. The other involved insulated concrete forms, unvented attic, and a minimally ducted "mini-split" heat pump.

Parker, Sutherland
8/14

Measured Results of Phased Shallow and Deep Retrofits in Existing Homes
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Building America program, in collaboration with Florida Power & Light (FPL), is pursuing a phased residential energy-efficiency retrofit program in Florida. This research is to establish annual energy and peak energy reductions from the technologies of two levels of retrofit – shallow and deep, with savings levels at the high end expected to reduce whole-house energy use by 40%. The Phased Deep Retrofit (PDR) project, has installed energy-efficiency retrofits in a sample of 60 existing, all electric homes.1Energy end-use savings and economic evaluation results from the phased measure packages and single measures are summarized along with lessons learned.

Chasar
8/14

Incentives for Efficient Multifamily Construction through Utility Allowance Calculations in Florida
Florida recently implemented a new method for determining utility allowances for low
income housing tax credit (LIHTC) properties that provide new incentives for energy efficient
construction. These incentives have driven one multifamily developer to exceed minimum
energy code by 40% in new developments since 2011 encompassing over 1,400 residential units
in 15 properties. All new units are rated by RESNET-certified Home Energy Raters with a
typical HERS index in the 50s and 60s.

Cummings,
Withers
8/14

Making the Case for Oversizing Variable-Capacity Heat Pumps
This paper presents results that support right-sizing for fixed-capacity (FC) but oversizing for variable-capacity (VC) systems. Oversizing VC heat pumps substantially decreases cooling and heating season energy consumption and peak demand. Oversizing heat pumps (both VC and FC) would also reduce operation of electric resistance back-up elements, yielding both seasonal and peak demand heating energy savings. Codes, standards, and programs that limit oversizing of heat pumps should be evaluated and likely modified to encourage or at least permit oversizing of VC systems.

Sutherland,
Parker
8/14

Measured Retrofit Savings from Efficient Lighting and Smart Power Strips
A lighting and smart power strip retrofit evaluation was conducted on 56 all-electric, existing Florida homes to see how lighting and miscellaneous electric loads might be reduced. Retrofits were conducted from March to June 2013. Detailed end-use electricity consumption is being monitored for two years, spanning pre- and post-retrofit. This paper summarizes the end-use energy savings and economic evaluation results from lighting and smart plug measures.

Fairey,
Parker
8/14

Vent Right and Then? Mechanical Ventilation, Dehumidification and Energy Use in Humid Climates
The desirability of mechanical ventilation in homes and acceptable infiltration rates are sometimes contentious topics – particularly in humid climates. We present preliminary results of two monitored lab homes constructed to represent the thermal characteristics of typical existing Florida homes. They are configured for the ventilation study with tight and leaky envelopes and with and without mechanical ventilation. We also present simulation results of high performance new homes with mechanical ventilation and typical older existing homes with and without air tightening and mechanical ventilation to provide added context.

Martin,
Amos
8/14

Measured Cooling Season Results Relating the Impact of Mechanical Ventilation on Energy, Comfort, and Indoor Air Quality in Humid Climates
In Florida, residential whole house mechanical ventilation is not required by code and market penetration of ASHRAE 62.2 compliant mechanical ventilation systems is poor. There is concern amongst regional builders and contractors around implications of mechanically introducing humid outside air compared to the indoor air quality benefits, which many feel are not adequately documented or demonstrated. These implications include impact on energy use, comfort, durability, and cost. This paper describes results from a study in Gainesville, FL relating the impact of ventilation on these parameters.

Parker,
Kono
5/14

Flexible Residential Test Facility: Impact of Infiltration and Ventilation on Measured Cooling Season Energy and Moisture Levels
Air infiltration and ventilation in residential buildings is a very large part of the heating loads, but empirical data regarding the impact on space cooling has been lacking. Moreover, there has been little data on how building tightness might relate to building interior moisture levels in homes in a hot and humid climate. To address this need, BA-PIRC has conducted research to assess the moisture and cooling load impacts of airtightness and mechanical ventilation in two identical laboratory homes in the hot-humid climate over the cooling season.

Gordon,
Lubliner
4/14

Evaluation of Modeled and Measured Energy Savings in Existing All Electric Public
Housing in the Pacific Northwest
This project analyzes the cost effectiveness of energy savings measures installed by a large public housing authority in Salishan, a community in Tacoma Washington. Research focuses on the modeled and measured energy usage of the first six phases of construction, and compares the energy usage of those phases to phase 7. Market-ready energy solutions were also evaluated to improve the efficiency of affordable housing for new and existing (built since 2001) affordable housing in the marine climate of Washington State.

Martin,
Beal
3/14

Technical and Business Solutions for Zero Net-Energy Ready and Zero Net-Energy Homes in the Hot Humid Climate
The Department of Energy’s Challenge Home program provides a standardized platform for application and marketing of Building America innovations in new residential construction and is intended to facilitate delivery of zero net-energy ready and zero net-energy homes that also meet goals for durability, quality, affordability, and comfort. The Building America Partnership for Improved Residential Construction, one of the Building America research team leads, has partnered with several builders in the hot-humid climate, as they work through the process of adopting Challenge Home. This paper serves to identify viable technical pathways to meeting the Challenge Home criteria in this region and illustrate market response to high performance housing.

Gordon
2/14

Cascade Apartments: Deep Energy Multifamily Retrofit
In December of 2009-10, King County Housing Authority (KCHA) implemented energy retrofit improvements in the Cascade multifamily community, located in Kent, Washington (marine climate.)This research effort involved significant coordination from stakeholders KCHA, WA State Department of Commerce, utility Puget Sound Energy, and Cascade tenants. This report focuses on the following three primary BA research questions:
1. What are the modeled energy savings using DOE low income weatherization approved TREAT software?
2. How did the modeled energy savings compare with measured energy savings from aggregate utility billing analysis?
3. What is the Savings to Investment Ratio (SIR) of the retrofit package after considering utility window incentives and KCHA capitol improvement funding.

Martin
1/14

Impact of Residential Mechanical Ventilation on Energy Cost and Humidity Control
The DOE Building America program has been conducting research leading to cost effective high performance homes since the early 1990's. Optimizing whole house mechanical ventilation as part of the program's systems engineered approach to constructing housing has been an important subject of the program's research. Ventilation in residential buildings is one component of an effective, comprehensive strategy for creation and maintenance of a comfortable and healthy indoor air environment. The study described in this white paper is based on building energy modeling with an important focus on the indoor humidity impacts of ventilation. The modeling tools used were EnergyPlus version 7.1 (E+) and EnergyGauge USA (EGUSA). Twelve U.S. cities and five climate zones were represented.

McIlvaine,
Sutherland
12/13

Applying Best Practices to Florida Local Government Retrofit Programs
BA-PIRC worked together in a multiyear field study making recommendations in individual homes, meanwhile compiling improvement costs, projected energy savings, practical challenges, and labor force factors surrounding common energy-related renovation measures. The field study, Phase 1 of this research, resulted in a set of best practices appropriate to the current labor pool and market conditions in central Florida to achieve projected annual energy savings of 15%-30% and higher. This report describes Phase 2 of the work where researchers worked with a local government partner to implement and refine the "current best practices".

Hewes,
Peeks
11/13

Northwest Energy Efficient Manufactured Housing Program: High Performance Manufactured Home Prototyping and Construction Development
The Building America Partnership for Improved Residential Construction, the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), and Northwest Energy Works (NEW), the current Northwest Energy Efficient Manufactured Housing Program (NEEM) administrator, have been collaborating to conduct research on new specifications that would improve on the energy requirements of a NEEM home.
This project prototyped and assessed the performances of cost-effective high performance building assemblies and mechanical systems that are not commonly deployed in the manufacturing setting. The package of measures is able to reduce energy used for space conditioning, water heating and lighting by 50 percent over typical manufactured homes produced in the northwest.

Gordon, Lubliner
10/13

Evaluation of Savings in Energy-Efficient Public Housing in the Pacific Northwest
This report presents the results of an energy performance and cost-effectiveness analysis. The Salishan phase 7 and demonstration homes were compared to Salishan phase 6 homes built to 2006 Washington State Energy Code specifications 2. Predicted annual energy savings (over Salishan phase 6) was 19% for Salishan phase 7, and between 19-24% for the demonstration homes (depending on ventilation strategy). Approximately two-thirds of the savings are attributable to the DHP. Working with the electric utility provider, Tacoma Public Utilities, researchers conducted a billing analysis for Salishan phase 7. A more comprehensive comparison between Salishan 7 and previous phases will take place in year two of this project.

Vieira,
Parker
9/13

Flexible Residential Test Facility: Impact of Infiltration and Ventilation on Measured Heating Season Energy and Moisture Levels
Two identical laboratory homes designed to model existing Florida building stock were sealed and tested to 2.5 ACH50. Then, one was made leaky with 70% leakage through the attic and 30% through windows, to a tested value of 9 ACH50. Reduced energy use was measured in the tighter home (2.5 ACH50) in the range of 15% to 16.5% relative to the leaky (9 ACH50) home. Internal moisture loads resulted in higher dew points inside the tight home than the leaky home. Window condensation and mold growth occurred inside the tight home. Even cutting internal moisture gains in half to 6.05 lbs/day, the dew point of the tight home was more than 15°F higher than the outside dry bulb temperature. The homes have single pane glass representative of older Central Florida homes.

McIlvaine,
Sutherland
9/13

Current Best Practices for High Performance, Deep Energy Retrofits in Florida Affordable Housing
In a four year study of 70 major renovations in foreclosed homes (NSP homes), researchers provided energy analysis and cost effectiveness calculations to 10 affordable housing entities. Partners chose an improvement package for each house based as-found conditions, budget constraints, central Florida market conditions, energy use analysis, and cost effectiveness calculations. Their collective choices and field experience are distilled into this checklist, a tool to simplify development of efficiency packages without the in-depth evaluation. Health and safety, building durability, and moisture control precautions and strategies are included. BA-PIRC is actively seeking partners who are interested in implementing the recommendations in projects involving 5 or more major renovations. Contact Janet McIlvaine at 321-638-1434.

Moore
8/13

Occupant-in-Place Energy Efficiency Retrofit in a Group Home for 30% Energy Savings in Climate Zone 4 Energy efficiency retrofits (EERs) face many challenges on the path to scalability. Limited budgets, cost effectiveness, risk factors, and accessibility impact the type and the extent of measures that can be implemented feasibly to achieve energy savings goals. Group home retrofits can face additional challenges than those in single family homes - such as reduced access (occupant-in-place restrictions) and lack of incentives for occupant behavioral change. This project studies the specification, implementation, and energy savings from an EER in a group home, with an energy savings goal of 30%. This short term test report chronicles the retrofit measures specified, their projected cost-effectiveness using building energy simulations, and the short term test results that were used to characterize pre-retrofit and post-retrofit conditions.

Lyons,
Moore
8/13

Bay Ridge Gardens - Mixed-Humid Affordable Multifamily Housing Deep Energy Retrofit
Under this project, Newport Partners (as part of the BA-PIRC research team) evaluated the installation, measured performance, and cost-effectiveness of efficiency upgrade measures for a tenant-in-place DER at the Bay Ridge multifamily (MF) development in Annapolis, Maryland. The design and construction phase of the Bay Ridge project was completed in August 2012. This report summarizes system commissioning, short-term test results, utility bill data analysis, and analysis of real-time data collected over a one-year period after the retrofit was complete. The results of this research build upon the current body of knowledge of multifamily retrofits.

McIlvaine, Saunders
7/13

The Next Step Toward Widespread Residential Deep Energy Retrofits
The complexity of deep energy retrofits warrants additional training to successfully manage multiple improvements that will change whole house air, heat, and moisture flow dynamics. The home performance contracting industry has responded to these challenges by aggregating skilled labor for assessment of and implementation under one umbrella. Two emerging business models are profiled that seek to resolve many of the challenges, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats described for the conventional business models.

Kosar
5/13

Laboratory Evaluation of Energy Recovery Ventilators
ERV balanced flow operation is well documented, but there is not public domain information available that empirically establishes the effect of unbalanced flow on sensible and latent exchange, especially in the now dominant membrane type ERV used in residential applications. This laboratory evaluation focused on unbalanced flow performance of a membrane type ERV delivering 200 standard cubic feet per minute (SCFM) of supply air. The dataset generated yielded a limited set of curve fit algorithms for unbalanced flow performance that can be used to supplement current modeling approaches in simulation tools like EnergyPlus. Building America BA teams can then utilize such models to analyze whole house effects and determine best practices associated with unbalanced ERV operations.

Chasar,
Martin
4/13

Efficient Multifamily Homes in a Hot-Humid Climate by Atlantic Housing Partners
With assistance from the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) and its Building America Partnership for Improved Residential Construction (BA-PIRC), Atlantic Housing Partners has implemented a high performance, systems engineered package of measures. This report demonstrates how the initiative achieves Building America goals of 30%-50% energy savings. Specifically, the goals are documented as being achieved in the new construction multifamily housing sector in the hot humid climate. Results from energy modeling of the high performance package are presented. The role of utility allowance calculations, used as part of the low-income housing tax credit process, to value those energy savings is discussed, as is customer satisfaction with heat pump water heaters.

Thomas-Rees,
Beal
3/13

Approaches to 30% Energy Savings at the Community Scale in the Hot-Humid Climate
BA-PIRC has worked with several community-scale builders within the hot humid climate zone to improve performance of production, or community scale, housing. Tommy Williams Homes (Gainesville, FL), Lifestyle Homes (Melbourne, FL), and Habitat for Humanity (various locations, FL) have all been continuous partners of the BA Program and are the subjects of this report to document achievement of the Building America goal of 30% whole house energy savings packages adopted at the community scale. The scope of this report is to demonstrate achievement of these goals though the documentation of production-scale homes built cost-effectively at the community scale, and modeled to reduce whole-house energy use by 30% in the Hot Humid climate region.

McIlvaine,
Sutherland
3/13

Energy Retrofit Field Study and Best Practices in a Hot-Humid Climate
Energy efficiency improvement as a component of comprehensive renovation was investigated under U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) funding of the Building America Partnership for Improved Residential Construction (BA-PIRC). Researchers at the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) worked with affordable housing partners renovating foreclosed homes built from the 1950's through the 2000's in the hot-humid climate (within the Southern census region), primarily in Florida. Researchers targeted a 30% improvement in whole-house energy efficiency along with the health and safety, durability, and comfort guidelines outlined in DOE's Builders Challenge Program (Version 1) Quality Criteria.

Kingston,
Scott
3/13

Laboratory Evaluation of Gas-Fired Tankless and Storage Water Heater Approaches to Combination Water and Space Heating
Homebuilders are exploring more cost effective combined space and water heating systems (combo systems) with major water heater manufacturers that are offering pre-engineered forced air space heating combo systems. These emerging combo technologies offer the opportunity to conduct meaningful tests, under controlled laboratory operations, that differentiate the performance of the various packaged equipment configurations being offered. In this project, unlike standardized tests, laboratory tests were conducted that subjected condensing tankless and storage water heater based combo systems to realistic, coincidental space and domestic hot water loads.

Colon,
Parker
3/13

Side-by-Side Testing of Water Heating Systems: Results from the 2010 - 2011 Evaluation
The Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) continues the testing and evaluation of seven water heating systems operating side-by-side at the HWS laboratory in Cocoa, Florida, and documents results in this report. All systems are submitted to alternating hot water draw schedules (ASHRAE 90.1 and NREL/BA). The most significant system change under the latest testing rotation comes from the evaluation of a new state-of-the-art electric heat pump water heater (HPWH) system. The HPWH water heater has demonstrated that under favorable ambient conditions it can perform very well against the best system evaluated in Phase I (2009-2010), the differentially controlled solar flat plate solar system.

Hales
3/13

Hood River Passive House
The Hood River Passive Project was developed by Root Design Build of Hood River Oregon using the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) to meet all of the requirements for certification under the European Passive House standards. The Passive House design approach has been gaining momentum among residential designers for custom homes and BEopt modeling indicates that these designs may actually exceed the goal of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Building America program to reduce home energy use by 30%-50% (compared to 2009 energy codes for new homes). This report documents the short term test results of the Shift House and compares the results of PHPP and BEopt modeling of the project.

Hewes,
Peeks
2/13

Northwest Energy Efficient Manufactured Housing Program Specification Development
The Building America Partnership for Improved Residential Construction, the Bonneville Power
Administration (BPA), and Northwest Energy Works, the current Northwest Energy Efficient
Manufactured Housing Program (NEEM) administrator, collaborated to conduct research on new
specifications that would improve on the energy requirements of a NEEM home. The team also
evaluated energy savings that would result from the new specifications. In its role as
administrator, NEEM administers the technical specs, performs research and engineering
analysis, implements ongoing construction quality management procedures, and maintains a
central database with home tracking.

Chasar,
Withers
2/13

Measured Cooling Performance and Potential for Buried Duct Condensation in a 1991 Central Florida Retrofit Home
The Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) conducted energy performance monitoring of two existing residences in Central Florida that were undergoing various retrofits. These homes were occupied by FSEC researchers and were fully instrumented to yield detailed energy, temperature, and humidity measurements. The data gave feedback about the performance of two levels of retrofit in two types of homes in a hot-humid climate. This report covers a moderate-level retrofit and includes 2 years of pre-retrofit data to characterize the impact of improvements. The other home, covered in a separate report (Parker and Sherwin 2012), is a deep energy retrofit that has performed at near zero energy with a photovoltaic system and extensive envelope improvements.

Sutherland,
Martin
2/13

Short-Term Test Results: Transitional Housing Energy Efficiency Retrofit in the Hot-Humid Climate
This project evaluates the renovation of a 5,800 ft2, multi-use facility located in St. Petersburg, on the west coast of central Florida, in the hot humid climate. An optimal package of retrofit measures was designed to deliver 30-40% annual energy cost savings for this building with annual utility bills exceeding $16,000 and high base load consumption. Researchers projected energy cost savings for potential retrofit measures based on pre-retrofit findings and disaggregated, weather normalized utility bills as a basis for simulation true-up. A cost-benefit analysis was conducted for the seven retrofit measures implemented.

Lyons
1/13

Short-Term Test Results: Multifamily Home Deep Energy Efficiency Retrofit
Multifamily deep energy retrofits (DERs) represent great potential for energy savings, while also providing valuable insights on research-generated efficiency measures, cost-effectiveness metrics, and risk factor strategies for the multifamily housing industry. The Bay Ridge project is comprised of a base scope retrofit with a goal of achieving 30% savings (relative to pre-retrofit), and a DER scope with a goal of 50% savings (relative to pre-retrofit). Despite being a moderate rehab instead of a gut rehab, the Bay Ridge DER is currently projected to achieve energy savings ≥ 50% compared to pre-retrofit, and the short-term testing supports this estimate.

Gordon,
Howard
12/12

Newporter Apartments: Deep Energy Retrofit Short-Term ResultsThis project demonstrates a path to meet the goal of the Building America program to reduce home energy use by 30% in multi-family buildings. The project demonstrates cost effective energy savings targets as well as improved comfort and indoor environmental quality (IEQ) associated with deep energy retrofits by a large public housing authority as part of a larger rehabilitation effort. The project focuses on a typical 1960's vintage low-rise multi-family apartment community (120 units in three buildings).

Kerr,
Tondro
12/12

Residential Feedback Devices and Programs: Opportunities for Natural Gas
Behavior-based approaches have been a growing interest in the energy efficiency field over recent years and the use of residential energy feedback has garnered particular interest. By providing an increased level of detail, feedback can greatly increase a consumer’s understanding of how energy is used in their home. This project reviewed the existing body of research on electricity feedback to identify parallel lessons for gas, discussed the benefits and challenges of different types of feedback, and identifying three feedback options that show strong potential for natural gas savings.

Fairey,
Parker
11/12

Cost Effectiveness of Home Energy Retrofits in Pre-Code Vintage Homes in the United StatesThis analytical study examined the opportunities for cost-effective energy efficiency and renewable energy retrofits in residential archetypes constructed before 1980 (Pre-Code) in 14 U.S. cities. These cities represent each International Energy Conservation Code climate zone in the contiguous United States. The analysis was conducted using an in-house version of EnergyGauge USA v.2.8.05 named CostOpt that was programmed to perform iterative, incremental economic optimization on a long list of residential energy efficiency and renewable energy retrofit measures.

Chasar,
von Schramm
9/12

Measured Performance of Occupied, Side-by-Side, South Texas Homes
The performance of three occupied homes built in 2009 in San Antonio, Texas with identical floor plans and orientation were evaluated through a partnership between the Florida Solar Energy Center, CPS Energy, and Woodside Homes of South Texas. The goals of this research were to: (1) learn how energy systems affect peak load profiles during the hottest weather conditions; (2) inform the development of builder and homeowner incentive programs that manage demand and energy consumption; and (3) measure cooling energy use to determine savings from envelope and equipment improvements.

Parker,
Sherwin
2/12
(revised 10/12)

Achieving Very High Efficiency and Net Zero Energy in an Existing Home in a Hot-Humid Climate: Long-Term Utility and Monitoring Data
This study summarizes the first full year of detailed data collected about a single-family home that experienced a series of retrofits targeting reductions in energy use. The project was designed to develop data about how envelope modifications in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) and domestic hot water and renewable measures can result in considerable energy reductions and potentially net zero energy for an existing home. Using utility billing records and recent detailed monitoring data, this study was also able to chronicle the progress of energy reduction over a 23-year period.

Efficient Hot Water and Distribution Systems (HWDS) Research Task Report(pdf)
Recent energy conservation standards rulemaking by DOE will essentially require that all
electric storage water heaters above 55 gallons utilize heat pump technology to meet NAECA
minimum efficiency levels to be implemented in 2015. The three integrated heat pump water heaters tested in this study represent the current domestic offerings by major manufacturers and are the only current class of electric ENERGY STAR residential water heaters.

Sherwin,
Colon,
12/10

Performance of Four Near Zero Energy Homes: Lessons Learned (pdf)
While the idea of a zero or near zero energy home is well understood, the actual performance of the structure can be different than expected. High performance homes necessitate increasingly complex envelope, HVAC, water heating, and appliance systems, and successful designs rely on proper function and feedback from those systems to achieve low-energy goals. This paper presents measured data on four near zero energy homes located in Florida that are a part of the U.S. DOE Building America program. The monitored data are compared to both a benchmark model and the prototype computer simulations.

Chasar,
vonSchramm
12/10

Measured Performance of Side-by-Side South Texas Homes (pdf)
As part of the U.S. DOE Building America program, the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC), CPS Energy, and Woodside Homes of South Texas collaborated to evaluate the performance of three homes in San Antonio, Texas with identical ~2,000 ft2 floor plans and orientation. Measurements included whole house gas and electric use as well as heating, cooling, hot water, major appliances, and indoor and outdoor conditions. One home built to builder standard practice served as the control, while the other homes demonstrated high performance features. These dual-fuel homes provided utility peak electric load comparisons to assess the merit of envelope and equipment improvements.

Fonorow,
Thomas-Rees
10/10

Low Cost Interior Duct Systems for High Performance Homes in Hot Climates (pdf)
The use of a passive return air strategy eliminates return air ducting in the attic. The elimination of this source of induced infiltration leads to improved indoor air quality (IAQ) and reduces material and labor costs. While the advantages of well designed and constructed interior duct systems are recognized, the implementation of this approach has not gained a significant market acceptance. Homes in hot climates are still typically designed and built with duct systems in the attic. This paper presents a cost effective method that was used by four builders in the Gainesville, FL area to construct interior ducts in over a dozen site built homes.

Withers, Cummings
09/10

Opportunities for Energy Conservation and Improved Comfort From Wind Washing Retrofits in Two-Story Homes - Part I(pdf)
The primary focus of this paper is towards a specific type of wind washing where wind can push attic air into the floor cavity between first and second stories of the home through ineffective (or missing) air barriers separating attic space from the floor cavity. Through the summer of 2009, a field study tested thirty-two two-story homes and found significant wind washing potential in 40% of the homes. Part I of this paper highlights the evaluation methods used and the extent of wind washing found in this study.

Withers, Cummings
09/10

Opportunities for Energy Conservation and Improved Comfort From Wind Washing Retrofits in Two-Story Homes - Part II(pdf)
The primary focus of this paper is towards a specific type of wind washing where wind can push attic air into the floor cavity between first and second stories of the home through ineffective (or missing) air barriers separating attic space from the floor cavity. Through the summer of 2009, a field study tested thirty-two two-story homes and found significant wind washing potential in 40% of the homes. Part II highlights the results of repairs and energy monitoring that were completed in six of the homes to evaluate retrofit methods and cost effectiveness of retrofit solutions.

McIlvaine,
Beal,
08/10

Gulf Coast High Performance Affordable Housing Demonstration Project (pdf)
In 2007 and 2008, the Building America Industrialized Housing Partnership worked with five partners in region of the Gulf Coast recovering from Hurricane Katrina. The High Performance Affordable Housing Demonstration Home was conceived to give builders in the region a cost-effective model of high performance to emulate. This report summarizes the status of work with the five partners, including the proposed energy efficiency package to reach the goal of 30% whole house energy source savings calculated under the 2008 Building America Benchmarking Procedure, standard construction practices, and implementation challenges. Four Demonstration houses were completed in 2008. Three met the 30% savings goal.

Exploring Cost-Effective, High Performance Residential Retrofits for Affordable Housing in the Hot Humid Climate (pdf)
A Department of Energy Building America team led by the Florida Solar Energy Center began working with partners to find cost-effective paths for improving the energy performance of existing homes in the hot humid climate. A test-in audit and energy use modeling of the partner's proposed renovation package was performed for 41 affordable and middle income foreclosed homes in Florida and Alabama. This paper presents the project's process including our findings thus far and highlights of the first home to meet the target HERS Index of 70.

Side-by-Side Testing of Water Heating Systems: Results from 2009-2010 Testing (pdf) The Hot Water System (HWS) Laboratory test facility at the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) in Cocoa, FL was used for testing seven differing types of residential water heating systems. The HWS building provides unconditioned housing (similar to a garage in Florida) for one reference electric 50-gallon heater, three solar thermal electric assisted systems, one electric tankless system, one reference 40-gallon natural gas (NG) and tankless gas system. The performance of all seven systems has been compared in a side-by-side test configuration over a full year period.

Interim Report on ISO TC163 Working Group 3 (pdf)
This report covers the initial year efforts of the International Standards Organization (ISO) to develop international standards for rating the energy performance of buildings. The author of this report is a participant in this effort. This report summarizes the activities of the ISO Working Group charged with development of these standards and makes recommendations to the sponsors for future U.S. involvement in this ISO effort.

Energy Impacts of Various Residential Mechanical Ventilation Strategies (pdf)
The Building America program has been
working with home builders for more than a decade
using a variety of strategies for bringing fresh air into
the homes. Many of these strategies utilize the central
air handler fan from the HVAC system to ventilate
when the system runs. This paper presents simulation results for eight
ventilation strategies compared to no ventilation, and
it presents the changes in energy use for each.

Green and High Performance Factory Crafted Housing (pdf)
As part of BAIHP we have assisted in the
design and construction of several “green” and high performance
modular homes that Palm Harbor
Homes, Florida Division has built for the
IBS in 2006, 2007,
and 2008. This paper will summarize the design
features and the “green” and energy-efficient
certification processes conducted for the 2008 show
homes, one of which received the very first E-Scale
produced by BAIHP for the U.S. DOE Builders Challenge program.

Very Low Energy Homes in the United States:
Perspectives on Performance from Measured Data (pdf)
We present measured annual performance data from a dozen recent-vintage very low energy homes in North America. Many of the designs combine greater energy efficiency with solar electric photovoltaic power in an attempt to create Zero Energy Homes. We also provide measured data from the first home constructed to the German Passivhaus standard in the United States. Several projects either exceeded or come very close to true net zero energy when evaluated over a year.

Parker,
Sherwin,
8/08

NightCool: A Nocturnal Radiation Cooling Concept (pdf)
An experimental evaluation has been conducted on a night sky cooling system designed to substantially reduce space cooling needs in homes in North American climates. The system uses a sealed attic covered by a highly conductive metal roof (a roof integrated radiator).

Hoak,
Parker,
8/08

How Energy Efficient are Modern Dishwashers? (pdf)
This paper presents measurements of three recent vintage dishwashers of very different efficiencies showing that while they are substantially more efficient than older dishwashers, those tested will still use electric resistance elements for supplemental heat, even when supplied by solar water heating systems producing very hot water.

Pilot Evaluation of Energy Savings from Residential Energy Demand Feedback Devices (pdf)
This paper briefly reviews past research and describes a two year pilot evaluation
of a low cost residential energy feedback system installed in twenty case study
homes in Florida. Although not a statistical sample, the study showed an average
7% reduction in energy use from feedback homes in the second year of monitoring
after controlling for weather-related influences.

Moyer,
12/07

Improved Duct Systems Task Report with StageGate 2 Analysis (pdf)
BAIHP worked with two industry partners, Cavalier Homes and Southern Energy Homes,
in constructing and evaluating prototype interior duct systems. Issues of energy performance, comfort, DAPIA approval, manufacturability and cost will be addressed.
A stage gate 2 analysis will address the current status of project showing that there
are still refinements needed to the process of incorporating all of the ducts within the
air and thermal boundaries of the envelope.

Zero
Energy Manufactured Home Project (ZEMH)
Deliverable for task 1.2 Side by Side tests of HUD code Homes
The
Zero Energy Manufactured Home Project has demonstrated
and promoted innovative energy saving technologies
to the manufactured housing industry and home buying
public, and evaluated those technologies’ energy
performance. The ZEMH project examined two 1600 ft2
double section manufactured homes, built by the same
manufacturer, using an identical floor plan. Both
homes were built by Kit Manufacturing in the summer
of 2002 and installed by Clearwater Homes for housing
staff working at the newly built Nez Perce tribal
fish facility.

Vieira,
Gu,
09/06

Improving the Accuracy and
Speed for Building America Benchmarking
The
Building America Benchmarking process is time consuming. One
must first enter the parameters of the prototype
home design into the Building America Spreadsheet
tool to create the parameters of the Building America
benchmark home and then use detailed software products
to simulate both the benchmark home and the prototype
home and then enter the results from these simulations
into the spreadsheet to determine the resulting %
improvement for the prototype.

Chasar,
Moyer,
09/06

Energy Efficient Renovations
of Storm Damaged Residences - Florida Case Studies
This study documents the
energy impact of retrofit options performed on four
Central Florida homes suffering damage from hurricanes
in the summer of 2004. Case studies are presented to
show the costs and benefits of various retrofit strategies,
including the potential to enhance comfort and durability.
Results are based on pre- and post-retrofit home performance
testing as well as analysis of simulated and actual
energy savings.

Energy
and Indoor Air Quality Recommendations
for Cold
Climate Habitat for Humanity Homes
During
June 2005, BAIHP researchers visited six Habitat
for Humanity affiliates in Michigan participating
in the 2005 Jimmy Carter Work Project and HFHIs Congress
Building America program. Energy analysis results,
indoor air quality recommendations, and cold-climate
best practices are provided in this report written
for Habitat affiliates and the Michigan Habitat for
Humanity state organizations energy incentives program.

Mullens,
Hoekstra,
08/06

Water
Intrusion in Central Florida Homes
During Hurricane
Jeanne in September 2004
In September 2004 Hurricane
Jeanne struck Florida. Most of the damage in the Orlando
and surrounding central Florida area resulted from
severe water intrusion. The local Home Builders Association
received over 1,000 complaints from new home owners
involving water intrusion. The water intrusion was
perplexing for several reasons. First, most complaints
were from residents of newer homes. Second, in many
cases there were no obvious reasons for the intrusion.
The objective
of this research is to characterize what actually happened,
to explain why it happened and to develop recommendations
to reduce future water intrusion.

Fonorow,
Chandra,
08/06

Energy
and Resource Efficient Communities through Systems
Engineering: Building America Case Studies in Gainesville, FL
Two Gainesville, FL builder
case studies are presented that detail the critical
elements of a systems engineering process that has
resulted in increased sales and fewer callbacks for
several builders. Additional benefits these builders
realized include enhanced customer satisfaction through
improved comfort, improved indoor air quality and
lower operating costs. Each of these builders chose
to improve the performance and marketability of their
homes taking different paths. These two approaches
will be described.

Improved Specifications for
Federally Procured Ruggedized
Manufactured
Homes for
Disaster Relief in Hot/Humid Climates
Before reconstruction can
begin after a natural disaster, temporary housing is
essential to stabilization of a community. The offsite, rapid construction,
and the ability to transport (and relocate) are two
advantages of the ruggedized manufactured home. This
paper investigates two improved specifications, ENERGY
STAR (ES) and the Building America Structural Insulated
Panel (BASIP) manufactured home, that enhance the energy
efficiency, sustainability, and indoor air quality
and provide back up power, without compromising human
health, safety or comfort.

Parker,
Hoak,
08/06

How Much Energy Are
We Using?
Potential of Residential Energy Demand Feedback Devices
This paper surveys past
research and describes a pilot evaluation of two low
cost monitoring systems in case study homes. We also
develop an evaluation protocol to use such devices
to determine the relative energy intensity of various
energy end uses. An
identified advantage of the technology is that it provides
better guidance on profitable areas to reduce household
electrical demand—many
of which are often unexpected.

Chasar,
Chandra,
07/06

Cooling
Performance Assessment of Building America
Homes
Long-term monitoring of
building energy use and environmental conditions
has been a strong component of FSEC research since
the 1980s. Fully-automated data collection, verification,
archiving and management ensure accurate logging
of large amounts of data simultaneously from numerous
field sites prior to being made available for analysis
and display via the internet.

Beal,
Chasar,
07/06

Measured
Crawlspace Conditions in a HUD-Code Home
FSEC conducted research utilizing
two unconditioned, old, singlewide side-by-side manufactured
homes, one with a ground cover and one with exposed
dirt under it. Three different skirting options were
tested, open or no skirting, perforated skirting, and
solid skirting. Ambient and crawlspace dewpoints were
recorded.

Theoretical
Evaluation of the NightCool
Nocturnal Radiation Cooling ConceptAn
evaluation has been conducted of the potential
of a night sky cooling system to substantially
reduce space cooling needs in homes in North American
climates. The report describes the innovative residential
cooling system which uses nocturnal night sky radiation
from a roof integrated radiator. The
report describes a detailed simulation model of
the relevant physical night cooling phenomenon,
examining each particular parameter which was found
to have an appreciable impact on performance.

Assessing
Six Residential Ventilation Techniques
in Hot
and Humid Climates
The
addition of mechanical ventilation air to “tight” homes
in hot and humid climates may adversely impact health,
building durability, comfort and energy use by raising
indoor humidity levels (RH) above 50%. High indoor humidity has been linked to microbial
growth, building material decay, discomfort, and
increased energy use (Moyer, et al, 2001).

Cold
Climate Case Study;
High
Efficiency North Dakota Twin Homes
The
Eastern Dakota Housing Alliance has completed 8 of
20 planned multi-family and single-family dwellings
on Selkirk Circle in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Four
twin-home (duplex) units were completed in March
of 2003 (Phase I) and four more identical units were
completed in February of 2004 (Phase II).

Optimizing
Manufactured Housing Energy UseTwo
manufactured homes located on North Carolina A&T
State University’s campus in Greensboro, NC were
used in a side-by-side energy consumption comparison.
The more energy efficient unit shows savings of 52%
for the heating, cooling, and DHW energy use. This
compares well with the energy savings predicted by
FSEC's Energy Gauge program of 57%, even when accounting
for the warmer than usual winter experienced during
the testing period.

Chandra,
05/04

Standards
for Clean Air Florida Homes
These
standards should result in a house with excellent indoor
air quality where allergy or asthma sufferers can breathe
easier. These standards are designed for new, slab on
grade homes built in Florida.

Chandra,
Parker,
01/04

Alleviating
Moisture Problems Hot, Humid Climate Housing
The
Southeastern U.S. experiences hot, humid conditions
throughout the summer months and in Florida, these conditions
can prevail throughout most of the year. As a result
it is not uncommon to find extensive mold, soft drywall,
buckled floors, damaged ceilings and other moisture
problems in new and existing site built and manufactured
homes. This paper provides a brief summary of the state
of the art and research needs for three areas - Manufactured
(mobile) Homes, Unvented Attics and Slab-on-grade floors.

McIlvaine,
Beal,
09/03

Achieving
Airtight Ducts in Manufactured Housing
Data
and findings presented here were gathered between
1996 and 2003 during 39 factory visits at 24 factories
of six HUD Code home manufacturers interested in
improving the energy efficiency their homes. Factory
observations typically showed that building a tighter
duct system was the most cost effective way to
improve the product’s
energy efficiency.

Chandra,
Lubliner,
04/03

Technical
services provided to the HUD Code and modular industry
The
Building America Industrialized Housing Partnership
(BAIHP) team is one of five Building America teams competitively
funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Energy
Efficiency and Renewable Energy-Building Technologies
program. BAIHP is led by the Florida Solar Energy Center
(FSEC) of the University of Central Florida (UCF).

The
Building America Industrialized Housing Partnership
This
paper summarizes the multifaceted work being performed
by BAIHP and provides specific data on 310 homes constructed
in the Gainesville FL area with technical assistance
from Florida Home Energy and Resources Organization.

Moisture
Problems in Manufactured Housing:
Probable Cause and Cures
A
number of new manufactured houses built to HUD code
and located in the hot, humid Southeast are experiencing
moisture problems including soft wallboards, buckled
floors, damaged wood molding and mold growth. These
problems do not respond to the standard service and
repair strategies for water intrusion.

Chandra,
Beal,
11/01

Preventing
House Dust Mite Allergens
in New Housing
House
dust mite allergens are a major cause of asthma. The
objective of this study was preventing dust mite allergens
in new houses with wall to wall carpets, NOT eradicating
dust mites from infested homes.

McIlvaine,
Beal,
2001

Design
and Construction of Interior Duct Systems (Brochure | Full Report - PDF 649kB)
Over
the past 15 years, duct related energy use has emerged
as one of the most extreme and pervasive energy wastes
in American homes,
accounting for as much as 40% of annual heating and
cooling bills. Duct
leakage and conductive heat transfer also degrade building
durability,
comfort, and indoor air quality by altering surface
temperatures and moving air through walls cavities
and vented unconditioned spaces. Read about several
case studies in this report and brochure.

Allergy
Resistant Housing
The importance of common residential allergens and irritants is reviewed. A systems
oriented solution called DDAMPFIRM is discussed. Construction details and measured
data are presented.

A comprehensive bibliography of BAIHP Books and Book Chapters, Papers, Contract Reports, Articles in Trade Press, Popular Press, and DOE Program Newsletters, One Page Fact Sheets, and BAIHP Web Page Contents.